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the artist
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I'm a potter and artist born in the Sonoran Desert city of Tucson, Arizona and raised on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
While studying at the University of Arizona, I earned a bachelors degree in fine arts with an emphasis in painting and illustration, and a masters degree in landscape architecture. I transitioned from my career as a landscape architect to pursue pottery once I became a mother. I felt compelled to try wheel throwing and asked my mom, a potter with decades of experience working with clay and teaching ceramics, to teach me the basics. In 2013 I opened an online ceramics shop by the name of Seedling Clayworks. It grew to become a thriving creative business that kept me very busy selling my handmade work. |
In 2020, I experienced an acute brain injury from a bicycle accident which caused an abrupt, seismic disruption to every aspect of my life and sense of self. I found myself drawn to my local desert landscape for healing, to my clay studio to process my experience, and deeply inwards for alignment.
As a result, my ceramic work has shifted from fast paced production pieces to slow, intentional, detailed work and a style that continues to evolve. In 2022 I transitioned my business name to Samirah Steinmeyer Ceramics. All of the work offered here is carefully made by one pair of hands, and the name of my ceramics studio reflects this.
As a result, my ceramic work has shifted from fast paced production pieces to slow, intentional, detailed work and a style that continues to evolve. In 2022 I transitioned my business name to Samirah Steinmeyer Ceramics. All of the work offered here is carefully made by one pair of hands, and the name of my ceramics studio reflects this.
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current work
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My ceramic work embraces and explores the concept of humility, not as in lowly or lacking in confidence, but rather drawing on its Latin root words humilis, meaning “on the ground” or “from the earth”, and humus meaning “earth”.
The work is self-referential in two ways:
...a reflection of my physical self as an ephemeral, fragile, fractured human form participating in an incomprehensibly vast geological cycle on this extraordinary planet...
and
...the clay pot itself made to resemble its material source, the disintegrated geological formations from which it was made.
The work is self-referential in two ways:
...a reflection of my physical self as an ephemeral, fragile, fractured human form participating in an incomprehensibly vast geological cycle on this extraordinary planet...
and
...the clay pot itself made to resemble its material source, the disintegrated geological formations from which it was made.
The texture on the exterior of my clay pots is applied to encourage random topography and surface cracking as it dries. I follow these visual cues, sculpting disintegrating canyon walls along fractures as they naturally emerge.
My work is a conversation between my psyche/self and my materials, between earthling and the Earth. I am most aligned with the ground of my being when I am touching clay, or in nature exploring canyons, or intrigued by the rocks I encounter while hiking. All of my pots as well as my physical body will return to the earth, to be chemically reformulated, to eventually emerge in new forms. My pieces serve as a gentle, daily, animating reminder to reflect on all of the implications of this.
My work is a conversation between my psyche/self and my materials, between earthling and the Earth. I am most aligned with the ground of my being when I am touching clay, or in nature exploring canyons, or intrigued by the rocks I encounter while hiking. All of my pots as well as my physical body will return to the earth, to be chemically reformulated, to eventually emerge in new forms. My pieces serve as a gentle, daily, animating reminder to reflect on all of the implications of this.
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the studio
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This one woman ceramic studio is focused on a sustainable, intentional, measured pace of production. This pace aligns with the time-consuming, high touch nature of these pieces. My work is high fired to cone 10, using mostly glazes formulated in the studio. Small batches of work are offered periodically online during shop updates.
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